The Lightning Castle: Heaven to Hell
by Koorime-Chan
Summary: Formerly Live and Burn. It's the fourth mission this, week, and the boys are getting tired. But that won't stop them from doing their duty....will it?
1. Of Fatigue and Missions

Hello all! I'm back! And i'm treating you to my first fic with an actual plot!

Lots of reviews will motivate me to update, and no, it's not blackmail!

Live and Burn

* * *

"Shuichi Minamino!"

Kurama's head snapped up, so fast that he cricked his neck. "Ow….." He mumbled, rubbing it. "Yes, Teacher?"

"Pay attention!"

"Yes, Teacher..." He repeated, groaning inwardly. It had been a tiring week. Two demon raids in Ningenkai and highly repetitive trouble from a gang in the demon realm. Kurama had clawed, slashed, and kicked his way through the last couple days, and was now bruised, battered, and torn to show for it. All he really wanted to do was sleep, which he had been doing quite comfortably until his ever-alert teacher noticed.

'Well, no going back now.' He thought, opening his textbook. He had to at least pretend to pay attention if he wanted to survive the day.

* * *

Botan sat at her desk, rifling through the seemingly endless paperwork. 'Hiroshi Yamato-San is due any minute now.' she thought. 'I'd best be going.'

Gathering her oar, her notepad, and a map of Tokyo, she walked toward, the door, humming contentedly until she nearly ran into-

"Yo!"

"Sir!" she screeched, stumbling backwards. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry, Botan." Chuckled Koenma. "But it does so amuse me. Anyhow, I need you to round up our detective and friends. I have a mission for them"

"For the boys?" asked Botan. "With all due respect, sir, this is the fourth time this week, and-"

"No!" Koenma interjected. "I'm afraid the members of Team Urameshi are the only that can handle what I have in mind."

"But Hiroshi Yamato-san is-"

"Taken care of!"

Botan sighed. There was no getting out of it now. "Yes sir" She said obediently. She then mounted her oar and flew off in search of Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei.


	2. Of Idiots and Suspicion

Chapter 2 up!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own YuYu Hakusho

"Ha! Gotcha Urameshi!" Kuwabara shouted.

"Not so nub-head! Victory is _mine_!"

Swing.

Smack.

Clunk.

"Ow!" complained Botan, rubbing her forehead as she approached the boys.

"Oops! Sorry Botan! Guess I got a little out of hand with that shot, huh?"

Botan rolled her eyes. It was so like them. They always seemed to have some outlet for all the macho competition they built up, and this time it was manifesting itself in the form of an absorbing and manly game of putt-putt.

"Sorry to interrupt you guys, but I have a mission for you."

"Yeah, what kind of mission?" Yusuke asked loudly, making his disparagement apparent.

"One of utmost importance to the fate of humans, demons, and life as we know it?" Botan offered.

"Really?" They both asked, eyes becoming huge.

'_Honestly…' _ "No, but it will be if you don't get on it now." She amended.

"Right!" said Yusuke, mock saluting. "When do we leave?"

"Right as soon as I hunt down Hiei. Will you two grab Kurama for me?"

"Yep. Where is he?"

"At school. Which, now that I come to think of it, is where you two should be." Botan said reprovingly.

They had the decency to look ashamed.

"Yes, well" Yusuke began, squaring his shoulders. "We had very important things to attend to-"

"Such as putt-putt?" Asked Botan, raising her eyebrows.

They blushed.

"Well, it can't be helped how you spend your sad little lives as long as you do your jobs. Now go get Kurama! Meet me at Koenma's in an hour. March!"

"Yes Ma'am!"

And they departed.

'_Well' _Thought Botan '_That's one thing taken care of. Goodness me, but it's been along week for them. I certainly hope Hiei doesn't object…"_

"NO." Stated Hiei flatly, later that morning. "I don't see any point in suffering another one of your petty human tasks. Besides, you probably won't even need me."

"Oh Hiei, _come on!_ I know it's been a long week and you're sick of it but you have to!"

"No"

"For the sake of all that is good and green on this earth?"

"No"

"For the sake of your friends?"

"I hope you're not adding the detective into that."

"Come on Hiei, _please!" _Botan pleaded desperately. "Kuwabara and Yusuke aren't aware of it, but they're physically _exhausted _and have almost no spirit energy left! And even though Kurama does his best to hide it he's almost dead on his feet! You're the only one who's even close to normal energy-wise and they'll need all the help they can get! So please, Hiei, _please!_"

Somewhere during the middle of Botan's speech Hiei's ears had perked up. He thought for a minute"

"Alright." He stated in a resigned voice. "I'll do it."

Thus begins their mission!


	3. Of Mystery and Plots

Next chappie! YAAAAAAAAAAAAY! (I should really lay off the coke…-.-')

Okay, here we go….

Disclaimer: I do not own YYH.

* * *

Hiei, Kurama, and The Idiots (Guess.) stood atop a cliff overlooking the Demon Plane. (**A/N**- was that a quick change of scene or WHAT?)

"This is the place?" asked Yusuke. "…Big."

That was an understatement. The castle spread over approximately half the landscape below them, and you could not have imagined a more sinister place if you had seen it in a nightmare. Two tall, spiky towers adorned the spaces beside the darkly decorated entrance. All the walls bore crude and grotesque paintings that glowed with a greenish tinge. The whole thing put a sour smell in their nostrils, and it seemed to give off a soft whisper.

Kuwabara gulped.

"So what, exactly, are we supposed to do with this?" he asked nervously.

Kurama turned to him. "It's quite simple, really." he said. "We infiltrate, locate the demon criminal inside, and capture or kill him. Assuming we survive. That castle is supposed to have at least 200 booby traps, 50 lower-class henchmen, and four or five of higher rank. After we have the demon, we bring him to reiki prison. Unless he dies in the struggle, which is also fine." He faced front again, leaving two jaws hanging open in his wake.

"_Simple?_" asked Yusuke, and Kuwabara gulped again

"This is all?" asked Hiei, monitoring Kurama's reaction carefully. "Nothing else?"

"No." stated Kurama firmly. "Nothing else." His eyes shifted, and he added hastily "The demon controls lightning, Hiei, so don't use the Blazing Fist of the Overlord. It will fuel his power."

"Hn." Hiei's eyes narrowed. Whatever Kurama wasn't telling him, it would have to wait. Right now, they had a demon to catch.

* * *

"_The demon is exceptionally dangerous." Koenma warned. "He strikes from anywhere and everywhere, and each strike could be deadly. I am trusting you, Kurama, to hold him off for the others. Not only are you the most sensible of your team, but you are also the most cunning, calculating, and possibly even the strongest. This demon is exactly your type of fighter and I'm sure he'll take a liking to you." Here Koenma fixed the Kitsune with a serious stare and held it. "Kurama." The word was hard and cold. "I want you to use any means possible to secure there will be _no_ fatalities."_

* * *

Kurama was still shuddering at the implications of this statement when he heard Hiei speak.

"Cold, Fox?"

Kurama studied Hiei closely before answering. The Koorime's (**A/N**- yay!) eyes were calculating, and they were narrowed into a deadly glare.

"I don't know what you're talking about." '_It's for the best...'_

"Well?" asked Yusuke, clueless as always. "What are we waiting for?"

"Good question." said Kurama. "Let's go."

* * *

Later, in front of the castle, the members of Team Urameshi all stood wondering the same thing. '_Where is the security?'_

"I mean, _come on!"_ said Kuwabara loudly "This guy is some kind of big-shot jewel thief, right? Isn't he afraid of theft?"

"That's not it, I think." Kurama contradicted slowly. "He's an S-class demon. It's either that he's so confident in his own abilities he doesn't feel a need for gate guards, or…"

"-He _wants us _to be here." Hiei finished for him.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Yusuke. "_Wants us to be here!?_ Now that's just a little creepy!"

'_All the subtlety of a mongoose…' _Kurama thought, smiling softly. "Well it just makes it easier for us if he does. Now let's go"

And they walked inside.


	4. The first Demon

Koorime: Sorry for the long wait! I had a LOT of important….things….to do…

Readers: eyebrow raise

Koorime: Shut up! Anyway, ON WITH THE FIC!!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

CHAPTER FOUR

* * *

Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara walked down the dimly lit corridor of the castle. The place was anything but clean. Slime practically oozed from the walls and lichens grew from the ceiling. Their footsteps sounded wet and muted.

"….Nice place." Yusuke observed, glancing around at the grimy walls. His voice echoed eerily. "Great for a vacation." He threw his trademark grin over at the others.

Kurama said nothing. His senses were up on high-alert mode; nothing would have startled him then. Hiei was staring fixedly at the ground, his eyes not moving from a spot directly above his toes, and his normally silent footsteps could be heard slapping quietly against the moist stone. Kuwabara just looked scared. Nothing else was said for a few more minutes until the group arrived at a divide in the corridor's path. It was then that Kurama broke the silence.

"Koenma gave me a map, just before I left." He said softly, as if there were something sleeping nearby that he didn't want to wake up. His eyes were downcast and shadowed by his bangs as he held the map out.

Not sensing and quite breaking the mood, Kuwabara grabbed the map from Kurama's outstretched hand.

"Good old Koenma!!" He said happily. "Sometimes I wonder how he does it! Now, where are we…?" He trailed off, and he and Yusuke began squabbling over the right direction.

Hiei peered carefully over at Kurama. The fox stood limply with his arms folded protectively around himself, his head seeming to dangle down over his chest. If Hiei didn't know better, he'd have said his friend was asleep.

"Oi, fox!" He snapped, glaring at Kurama. "Not sleeping on the job, are we?"

Kurama slowly lifted his head and directed his gaze at his friend. "No." He stated simply before turning away.

Hiei almost fell backward in surprise at the exhausted resignation in his friend's voice. Taking a quick step backward, a complaint was at the tip of his tongue when-

"YES!!!!!" Kuwabara shouted. "Eat my dust as I pave the way to criminal extermination! Bask in my glory and bow down….."

"He found out the way." Yusuke informed Hiei and Kurama sourly as they followed Kuwabara (still spouting self-praise) down the dank corridor. "While I was looking through the map. Stupid sixth sense." He added darkly, shoving his hands into his pockets and sauntering up toward Kuwabara (the latter up to his ears in bragging).

"Why he takes it so seriously I've no idea." Whispered Kurama, bending down to Hiei's ear. All traces of his former exhaustion were gone, or at least masked, for the time. "It's just a map."

Hiei glared up at him suspiciously. "What's wrong with you?" He accused bluntly.

Kurama blinked. "Hiei, what…"

"Don't play innocent, Fox." Hiei interrupted darkly. "For a while back there you seemed tired-exhausted! And you looked sad and"-here Hiei's lip twitched a bit-"Weak. You're not yourself today, and I want to know why. I won't have you going all mopey in the middle of our battle and ruining everything."

Kurama's eyes darkened in anger. He swelled to his full height and his hands tensed into fists. He opened his mouth to retort when-

"Yes, do please hit him."

Four heads snapped around. Yusuke and Kuwabara (who had been watching the former proceedings nervously) scuttled up the corridor to stand beside their two friends, who were looking warily at the offending speaker.

"It would make my job so much easier, you see." The speaker continued on calmly, flicking imaginary dust off his fingernails. "After all, master Inazumo is displeased when vermin start crawling about the castle. The master orders that all rats be…" The demon turned his head slowly toward them, and the torchlight glinted off his yellow eyes. "…exterminated."

Kurama felt a shiver climb up his spine. This new foe, with his blood red suit and spiky orange hair, was undeniably creepy. The sound of his voice was like chorus of fingernails shrieking over a chalk covered blackboard. And his hard and smoldering eyes seemed to send daggers shooting straight through Kurama's chest

"So you're that big-shot's minion?" Yusuke drawled. "Since you're the first you're probably the weakest. Why don't you just go slithering back to whatever slimy hole you came from and save yourself the trouble of getting soundly thumped."

The demon snarled, and Kurama could feel his aura growing hotter by the second. "Get down!" He yelled frantically, diving at Yusuke and pushing him to the ground, missing by inches the fireball that roared over his head, singing the ends of his hair.

"Insolent whelp!" The demon half hissed, half-screamed at Yusuke. "I was considering letting you die quickly, but you've changed my mind! I, Taiyo, will bring you down with the most suffering and pain I can cause!"

Yusuke surged forward, the glint of a challenge in his eye, but Hiei held out his arm to stop him abruptly.

"Don't!" He hissed. "If you fight him, you'll burn to a crisp. But if I fight him….my fire is stronger than his, I'll win." Hiei left no room for argument as he stepped forward to meet his foe.

Taiyo smirked. "Very sportsman like of you." He observed. "But all in vain. One of you will not be enough to defeat me."

"We'll see about that." Stated Hiei simply, his arms clasped behind his back.

Taiyo hesitated.

"You have the first move." Said Hiei, looking him squarely in the eye.

The smirk plastered itself back on Taiyo's face. "Your funeral, then!"

He shrieked, and launched a fireball directly into Hiei's chest.

* * *

Yeah!!!!! Finally some action!!!!! If ya wanna see what happens, better review!

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	5. Of Drama and Webs

Hiyas! I'm back! Sorry for the long wait. Forgive me!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

_

* * *

The smirk plastered itself back on Taiyo's face. "Your funeral, then!"_

_he shrieked, and launched a fireball directly into Hiei's chest._

* * *

Only Hiei was not there. His cloak floated to the ground, engulfed in flames, as Taiyo's triumphant grin slipped from his now-astonished features.

"_WHAT?!_" he screamed, glancing frantically around.

The hallway was clear, sans what was left of Team Urameshi.

'_Unless…'_

Taiyo's sneer was back. He regained his composure, and his posture relaxed once more as he threw back his head and looked up…

…straight into Hiei's sword.

"_RRAAAUUUUHHHGGG!!!_"

The strangled yell was punctuated with a rather sickening _crunch_, and the demon crumpled.

"Not even worth one cloak." Hiei spat, wiping his blade unnecessarily on Taiyo's red suit.

Kuwabara stared at him. "You are the _man_, man," he said incredulously "that was…._awesome!_"

"Well," began Kurama with a small smile "you know you've made an accomplishment when even _Kuwabara_ is rendered speechless!"

Quite forgetting Hiei, Kuwabara turned on Kurama.

"You wanna piece o' me?! 'Cause I'll take ya! I'll do better than that! I'll whoop ya! I'll whoop you so bad…"

Yusuke steeped forward, bypassing the indignant Kuwabara in order to talk to Hiei.

"That really was good," he said "even for you. Have you been training?"

Hiei glared. "Unlike _you,_ I can stay fit enough to fight without having to take out all my testosterone on a punching dummy every other minute."

Yusuke chuckled. "Shouldn't have expected much."

Turning back toward Kuwabara and Kurama, he shouted "Hey! Nub-head! Can we go or are you still busy patching your ego?"

"I-"

"Yeah, Yeah, whatever. Heard it all before. Now let's get a move on! The sooner we finish this mission, the sooner we go home!"

Grumbling, Kuwabara began forward again, and stepping around the prone form of Taiyo, they resumed their trek toward the heart of the castle.

"How did you get up there, anyway?" asked Yusuke to Hiei.

Hiei regarded him dryly. "I jumped."

"Out of you cloak?"

"…a decoy."

Yusuke wrinkled his nose. "Are you sure that it wasn't more of a…oh, I don't know… a dramatic flourish?"

Hiei glared.

"But, seriously! I mean, this has to be the seventh or eighth one you've lost! They've been slashed, cut, shredded…"

"This one burned!" piped Kuwabara helpfully.

Hiei kept glaring.

Feeling the need to intervene before things got messy; Kurama said "Now Yusuke, is that really fair? What about your shirt? I can think of plenty of times when that's come off, for one reason or another…"

"That's different!" Yusuke protested.

"How so?"

"It's-"

Yusuke stopped in his tracks.

"My legs…!"

Looking down, the group suddenly realized exactly what Yusuke meant. All four of them were standing right in the middle of a huge, white, sticky mass of threads. They clung to the walls, the ceiling, and piled all around their feet. It was a spider web. And a really_ big _one.

"I think we'd better postpone this discussion for another time," stated Kurama hurriedly "look."

They all looked.

"…_damn_!"

Giant spiders. A lot of them.

"Hold onto your hats, gentlemen," said Kurama evenly "It's gonna be a bumpy ride."

* * *

all reviewers get cookies!!!! 


	6. Of Spiders and Victory

Hiyas!

Here we are back to the thrilling tale of drama, deceit, giant flying turtles- I am so losing it…

Anyway, on with chapter-what are we on now?

* * *

Web was everywhere. Kurama dodged, twisted, ducked, and leaped but he still could not evade the thick strings of spider residue that were flying toward him from every direction.

"Kurama!"

Kurama spun, nearly tripping himself, and at the last minute slashed at the oncoming spider with his rose whip. Past this he could see Yusuke give him a quick thumbs-up before snatching it away so it wouldn't be chomped.

Kurama glanced around at his other comrades, and they weren't faring much better. Hiei's sword was flashing more brightly than usual, even in this dim lighting. His face and torso were smeared with patches of bluish-purple spider blood, and his expression was fierce.

Kuwabara's sword was also out and at the ready, but all his was doing was chopping and slashing at rhythmic intervals, and seldom did it actually connect.

They were all overwhelmed though, for there seemed to be no end to the flood of many-legged and hairy arachnids. Dozens of dead spiders lay at their feet, but there always seemed to be twice as many coming at them from the air.

"_Where_-" grunted Yusuke,"are they all coming from!?"

"Who cares," shouted Kuwabara in response, "just get rid of them all!"

This however, seemed impossible. However many they killed, there were more to take the place of those dead. The spiders were winning, and the team was losing.

Every spider Kurama killed forced him another step back, and soon they were in sight of the spot where Taiyo had ambushed them.

Kurama's energy was failing. Every blow stung his shoulders and reverberated down his spine. His arms felt leaden in their sockets and his neck was strained and taut. Kuwabara's sword was starting to dim and even Hiei's blows were becoming more and more frantic.

"At this rate they'll have us all back at the entrance," Yusuke cried, "Kurama, Hiei, can't you _do_ something?!"

Kurama glanced at Hiei, who was too busy burning spiders to answer. He glanced around at the surrounding corridor, at Taiyo's limp form lying on the cold stone, the ashes of Hiei's discarded cloak, Kuwabara's feeble swipes with his aura sword…

_Wait…_

"Kuwabara!"

The boy looked up, and shouted back something indiscernible.

"Kuwabara, listen closely to what I have to say," Kurama continued, "I want you to put up an aura shield!"

Kuwabara looked stunned. "Eh? How!"

"Do what you do to summon your aura sword, only _bigger_! Wait until Hiei and I have gotten out of the way! Yusuke, cover him! Hiei…"

Hiei nodded. He understood.

"Alright! Ready? One…"

He and Hiei leaped far back away from the spiders' reach.

"Two…"

Kuwabara dropped his sword and put on a look of deep concentration, Yusuke fending off any approaching spiders.

"…_NOW!!!_"

The entire corridor glowed a pale yellow as a thin sheet of flickering energy filled up the space between the walls and momentarily stopped the sea of hairy arachnids. The shield only held for a few seconds, but that was enough, for in that second, there was a flash of black as Hiei flitted up and punched the ceiling, causing boulders the size of there former enemies to come crashing down, and collapse an entire section of the corridor.

Nobody spoke for a moment, and the only sound was the clatter of a single pebble bouncing down the immense pile of boulders that now cut them off from the hoard of angry spiders.

"…Wow," stated Yusuke bluntly into the silence, "that was…intense!"

"Mmm," agreed Hiei, wiping his sword on his pants and sheathing it.

"And look," said Kurama with a small smile, "there's another corridor above us, with the ceiling as a divider. That must have been where all the spiders were coming from. And It's all thanks to you, Kuwabara, that we lived to see it!"

"Yeah, Kuwabara," agreed Yusuke with a blinding grin, "you did good!"

Kuwabara looked at them for a minute, started to say something, then blushed.

"HAH!"

Yusuke immediately fell to the ground, holding his stomach and gasping with laughter.

Kuwabara's color deepened.

"Well," Said Hiei, cutting off Yusuke's howls, "looks like the only way to go is up, and I'd rather do it sometime in the next century…?"

"Right," said Yusuke, sobering immediately, "the mission."

Hiei rolled his eyes and hopped up to the passageway above and, smiling slightly, Kurama followed.

* * *

Lotsa action in this one! Please tell me what you think! 


	7. The Second Demon

I'm soooooooooooo sorry! I know it's been like 3 weeks and I haven't updated! Major tests in school!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

"Okay, if this corridor goes on for any longer I am going to _kill_ something."

"I'm going to kill _you_ if you don't shut up."

"Please, gentlemen, try not to resort to violence in order to relieve stress. Though walking for hours in a pitch black corridor _can_ do that to you…"

"…"

The walk seemed endless. By Yusuke's watch, precisely three hours, twenty-seven minutes and forty one seconds had passed since they had entered the hidden passage above the main corridor. As they walked, and the light from the hole, leading back to the corridor had gotten farther away, they had been swallowed up into a complete darkness that their eyes refused to adjust to. It didn't help that the air was decidedly stuffy, either…. Annoyance was running high and patience low.

"D'ya think we've passed it?"

"Passed what?"

"You know…the room!" That was Kuwabara.

"No, I don't know, what room are you talking about," answered Hiei.

"_His _room."

"_Who's_ room?"

"_Shut up_," yelled Yusuke.

And still they walked on. The air was even damper and stuffier now, making breathing laborious and somewhat fowl-smelling.

"Hey."

"'Hey' what?"

"I know what's making it so dark."

"Yes, do share your wisdom, O Detective of Knowledge."

"…Why, you-"

"What do you think is making it so dark, Yusuke," asked Kurama's calm voice pointedly.

"Oh, yeah. Well I _think_-"

"Oh, don't think, _please_. It'll do you no good and makes life so much more difficult for _me_."

"Kurama? What're you talking about? And why do you sound so…girly?"

"It's notme, Yusuke."

"…_Kuwabara?_"

"_No!_"

"Then who's-?"

A long, deep, sigh sounded from above them then, echoing around the damp room.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot. You can't see me, can you? I suppose I should do something about that…"

The voice trailed off into mutterings, and slowly the darkness began to clear.

"_See," _hissed Yusuke in a loud stage whisper, "I _told_ you that's not just lack of light! It's-"

"There we go…"

The voice made the four boys look up, and as the last of the purple-y black fog lifted, they took their first glimpse at the owner of the strange voice.

It was a small girl, floating above their heads, looking bedraggled and forlorn in a large purple shirt and dark blue kimono pants. Her hair was thin and straggly and damp, all of her face seemed weighted, with drooping eyelids and a down turned mouth. She carried a large scythe, laid haphazardly over her loosely crossed legs.

"…Well?"

The boys were shaken out of their daze as they realized what she meant.

She expected to fight them.

"Say _what?_"

The girl blinked, slowly.

"…What?"

Yusuke stared up at her, arms akimbo.

"_You_ belong to Inazumo?"

She blinked again.

"…Yes?"

"_You? _But you're just a little-"

Kurama hurriedly raised his foot and brought it down sharply onto Yusuke's.

"_Quiet,_" hissed Hiei, "_Can't you sense her aura?_"

"Yes," agreed Kurama, "You should have learned by now that size isn't everything."

The girl looked down at them, seeming not to care that they were talking about her.

"Aura? I can't-"

"Of course you can't," said Kuwabara faintly, "You don't have a sixth sense. But I can, and…" His voice trailed off.

Yusuke dropped all pretenses.

"Strong?"

Kuwabara nodded shakily.

"Oh, yeah."

"Alright, then," said Yusuke, "Let's get down to business."

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	8. Of Blidness and Sight

Long overdue.

Disclaimer: you know the drill.

Chapter 8

* * *

"

* * *

The wall behind him exploded.

"Holy-!"

Yusuke dodged just in time. Boulders the size of small horses were raining down upon them, crashing down with the force of missiles, and that wasn't all. Their small anonymous enemy was taking the distraction to her advantage. She was weaving in and away from the still-airborne stones, slashing at them with her scythe, which whistled sharply as she cut through the air.

There were shouts from Kuwabara as boulders hit him, cries from Kurama telling Yusuke to watch out, and once, an ominous hiss from Hiei.

Their boulder barrage was beginning to ebb, and through the dust, figures were beginning to emerge. Yusuke and Kurama were still standing, but Kuwabara was hunched over in pain, busily nursing his many bruises, and Hiei was clutching his bloody thigh. Their enemy hovered amidst the wreckage, looking, for the moment, satiated.

"I," She began proudly, straightening her back, "am called Ankokou."

"Yeah?" snarled Yusuke, crouching on his knees like a coiled spring, "you look more like

a _buttface_ to me."

And he sprung.

Ankokou's heavily lidded eyes widened fractionally as she moved hastily to one side of Yusuke's line of fire. The speed of his leap however, plus the element of surprise overtook her and one of her cheekbones was grazed by his passing fist. She spun, and one of her legs lashed out toward Yusuke's fast-retreating back. She missed by inches, and, a curse forming on her thin lips, swung her long scythe toward his neck….

Then she froze.

A tiny gasp escaped her parted lips, and she fell at Kurama's feet, his rose whip embedded in her spine.

Blood dripped down Kurama's chest where her scythe had grazed him as his pulled his whip out and furled it.

They all stood silent as he ripped his shirt to bind his wound, stayed silent as he straightened and turned to go.

Then Kuwabara spoke.

"How," he began, his voice cracking slightly, "how old was she, would you say?"

Yusuke turned to him, incredulous.

"You're worrying about _that? Now?_ After we just nearly were killed? And she's a demon, Kuwabara, a _demon!!_ She wasn't your ordinary everyday little girl, she was-"

"Kurama and Hiei are demons," said Kuwabara quietly, "Kurama?"

Kurama turned slowly, a slight sad smile on his face.

"Probably hundreds of years old, Kuwabara. And don't feel sorry. We demons are all the same. We're not like humans. Take away our souls and we don't die. Take away our bodies…"

He gestured at the girl on the ground.

"It was for the best."

He tuned and began walking on through the corridor, leaving Yusuke and Kuwabara time only to exchange bewildered glances before running along after him.

Hiei said nothing, and followed.

* * *

ooooooooooooooooh, mystery! soooo sorry about the long wait! don't be mad and please review if you never want it to happen again!


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